Lock Picker
by hopekills16
Summary: Well. This is a story about Lana Draf. A normal girl on Earth with no real direction in life. When the darkness swallows her world though, she finds out she's not that normal. Post KH2. Mild LeonxCloud, SoraxKarri, RikuxOc.
1. Prologue

Yo. It's me again. I was bored and wrote this piece up. It's another attempt at a Kingdom Hearts fan fiction. DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING KINGDOM HEARTS. I just own Lana and the lock picker idea. Oh, and Martin, Molly, and Megan, ect. Also. I don't own Romeo and Juliet either. Well. Here we go.

Prologue

Once upon a time, a child was lost. This wasn't just any child, though. This child was special. The fate of many worlds rested on her shoulders. The child remained safe for seventeen and a half long years. It was then, that she was found with no memory or idea to how important she was. On the day she was found, her world was turned upside down.

I know it's short. It's supposed to be. Read chapter one next please. Read and review, because that's what us writers live on. If you want to critic my work, please do it nicely. The first time I attempted to do a KH story, someone flamed me so bad, I deleted the story from the site, and my comp, and then I tore up the written copy. Laters.


	2. Chapter 1

Hey, it's me again. Just wanted to say hi before presenting chapter one of Lock Picker. I'm enjoying writing it. Read and Review please.

Chapter One

Lana ran down the steps of the school. She realized she was late. The girl had been on the roof reading, instead of attending her chemistry class. One of the hall monitors saw her, but pointed her down one of the side halls. That meant there were teachers patrolling the mail hall. In less than two minutes, Lana had navigated all the way across the school and slid into her seat in class seconds before the teacher called her name for roll.

"Here." She sighed with a small grin.

"Reading on the roof again, L?" A deep voice asked from beside her.

Lana looked at her redheaded partner in crime with bright green eyes. "Of course, Martin. Where else would I be during Captain Firearm's class?" She wore an almost evil looking smirk. The boy laughed before the drama teacher told them to be quiet.

"Oh, Romeo. Oh, Romeo. Where for art thou, Romeo? Thou art not my enemy but thy name is. Cast off thy name and thou shalt not be mine enemy any longer. For what is a name to a man? T'is not a hand, nor foot, nor arm. What is in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Lana stopped to sigh and blink, dropping the roll, having already figured what the teacher would say.

"Miss Draf, you mixed the order of the lines up…Again. Try it over tomorrow." The teacher complained Lana sat down.

"Wow, L. That's the forth time you've done that this week. How did you manage to score the role in the first place?" Martin asked her when she sat down.

"Shut it, Martin. At least, I don't die until the end of the play." Lana snipped in good humor.

"Yeah, but my death leads to yours." Martin shot back. They glared at each other in mock anger before the play's Romeo walked up.

"Hey, Lana. I can't wait until we practice the kissing scene." He smirked.

"Piss off, Drake. You even think about actually kissing me and I'll make you fit to play the 'Juliet' role." She growled at the cocky boy. He frowned before scurrying away. Lana grinned at Martin before the bell rang for the end of school.

"So, L, are you going to the concert tonight?" Martin asked as they moved quickly out the school doors.

"Of course. Wouldn't miss it for the world," Lana answered excitedly. "I'll be there right after work. Which if I don't hurry, I'll be late for. Later, Mar." The boy waved her good bye as she took off running.

It wasn't very far from school to the place where the seventeen year old worked. She ran there everyday and was never late. Come rain, slush, or shine. Lana loved the Blue Moon Diner. It was quaint and cozy.

The bell hanging over the door dinged as she came through the door. The few customers looked up as she entered and chorused different greetings, of which Lana answered all with questions of health or families. Most of the customers were regulars. She knew them well. Just as they knew her.

"I'll be back out in a few." She laughed in response to calls of pie and coffee. She walked into the back to get changed. Aeryn chuckled at her. Then, Lana was quickly back out on the floor. Only six hours until she was off and on her way to the concert.

"It's about time you got here, Lana." A short girl standing only five feet off the ground. Her long hair was streaked lime green.

Lana wrapped her arms around the girl from behind and leaned on her. "I was working, Megan. I'm so tired now." She whined. Her friends laughed.

"Maybe you should go home, then." Martin suggested to her with glow sticks already wrapped around his neck.

She stood up straight before replying with a happy, "No way." Megan's younger sister, Molly, sprayed glow-in-the-dark purple paint all over her. Molly had always assured her that it was washable.

Lana tuned out the soft conversation about how Megan was not letting Molly drink anything at the concert to survey her three friends.

Molly was the youngest at sixteen. Her long brown hair was highlighted bright blue. The smart eyes were a beautiful brown and she stood four feet and eight inches without heels.

Megan, the oldest, was twenty-three. Lime green streaks brought out the green in her hazel eyes. She was short but lively. Something fun was always going on if she was around.

Martin was a very handsome seventeen year old with quiet a bit of pocket money, thanks to his parents. Red hair and bright green eyes gave away who his ancestors were. Very Irish. The only one in the group who reached five foot eight inches. The joker in the group.

The band took the stage causing the entire crowd to scream in glee. They started singing and the crowd started moving. Lana, Molly, Megan, and Martin stuck together. This was their way of unwinding after a long week. Laughing. Dancing. There was nothing better.

That was, until the terror filled screaming started.

The four turned to see a wave of black sucking up fans on one side of the stage as strange little black creatures preceded it. They, instantly, turned to run from the things. Lana stumbled but Martin grabbed her and began pulling her with him.

One of the creatures jumped out of nowhere before attacking Molly. The other three had no chance to save her. She was gone. Lana tried to turn around but Martin pulled her forward as Megan pushed her.

Quickly, they found themselves in a hall with monsters coming up one end. The wave was at the other. Megan pointed to the stairwell going up. Martin lead Lana up it before they saw several black creatures overwhelm the adult. Martin didn't let Lana turn but propelled her up the stairs.

Running down the last hall, they came upon a ladder. Lana couldn't breath. There were tears running down her face. She was panicing.

"We're gonna die, aren't we?" She asked.

Martin turned his gaze on her. "No. We're going to get out of here, Lana. I promise," He told her. Then, they noticed the creatures and the wave start up their hallway. He pushed her towards the ladder. "Climb on to the roof. Hurry!"

Lana pulled herself up the wooden object. When she looked down, she saw the black wave coming straight at the boy. He didn't have time to climb up after her. The only thing she could do was scream his name.

"Lana, go!" He yelled before he was overcome by the wave.

The girl stumbled over the roof. She was unsure of where she was going or how she'd escape. She just ran. Unfortunately, Lana quickly found herself standing at the edge of the roof, over looking a sea of darkness.

A growling caused her to turn. Behind her, there were several creatures. They were slowly moving closer to her. Lana took a step back to put more space between her and them, forgetting that she was at the edge of the roof. She fell. One of the creatures jumped after her and wrapped around her eyes like a blindfold. She blacked out.

Well, that was chapter one. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'll have the next chapter up soon. Read and Review please. Later.


	3. Chapter 2

Hey. I promised I'd get the next chapter up and here it is. Read and Review.

Chapter Two

"Good god. It's a heartless. Leon!" A voice yelled.

"Calm down, Yuffie," A motherly voice ordered softly. "I don't think it's going to hurt us or her. It looks like it's trying to protect her," The voice changed direction. "We're not going to hurt her. Only help her. She's bleeding."

There was a grumbled noise that sounded like a growled meow. Then, a weight shifted to the other side of her body. Someone chuckled. Lana felt a green wave roll over her and the pain she'd been in vanished. With a small struggle, she opened her aqua eyes.

The first person Lana saw had long light brown hair. She wore a red and pink dress. The second, clad in a pair of shorts, a black tank top with a vest, had short black hair with a bandana tied across her forehead. They both looked slightly startled.

"How do you feel, dear?" The woman in the dress asked.

"Better. Who are you?" Lana asked.

"My name is Aerith." The brunette answered.

"I'm Yuffie. What's your name?" The ninja looking girl inquired excitedly.

Lana didn't answer right away. She was taking in the strange environment. Books piled up on the floor. There was a table set for tea, it looked. The bed, which Lana was sitting, was soft. A large computer held a large chunk of the wall. A few other doors lead from the room.

"Are you alright?" Aerith asked her forehead creased with worry.

"Wha- Oh, yeah. I'm fine. My name is Lana. Uh. Where are we?" She was awed.

"The headquarters in Radiant Gardens, of course, silly." Yuffie answered.

"Radiant Gardens? What state is that in?" Lana was confused.

"Oh, dear. You're not from this world, are you?" Aerith asked with a sad look.

Lana's confusion was only getting worse. "What are you talking about? None of this is making any sense at all." The girl stated.

"What was the name of the world you lived on?" A male voice asked.

Lana looked up to see that the voice belonged to a man with brown hair and a scar across his nose. "If you're talking about which planet, it was Earth." She answered warily. The man sighed as Yuffie grimaced.

Aerith looked sad before she began to speak. "I'm so sorry, Lana, but if you're here in Radiant Gardens, that means your world was swallowed by the darkness. It's no longer in existence."

Lana gapped. "You've got to be joking. An entire planet can't just disappear. That's it. This is just some prank that Martin paid you to pull," Lana raised her voice a little. "Ha. Ha. Martin, you almost got me with this one. Come on out." The three in the room just looked at her oddly.

"Who's Martin?" Yuffie asked, honesty showing through her eyes.

Lana, the proud soul she was, would never admit to it. She passed out though.

There were whispers coming from across the room. It took Lana a minute to remember, from the tiny ball she was curled up in, that she was in the room in this Radiant Gardens place. She listened to the people talk.

"The poor girl just pasted out." There was Aerith's voice.

"It was a big surprise to her." An unknown voice sounded.

"We kind of figured that out, Merlin." Leon answered quietly.

"You have to explain about the other worlds too. Maybe even about Sora." A silent voice said sounding like the owner didn't want to speak.

"We will, Cloud. As soon as she wakes up." A femenine voice replied.

"Cid, why don't you try to get a hold of King Mickey and find out what's going on?" Merlin suggested.

"I'm on it." Someone responded and the sounds of a keyboard clicking filled the air.

Lana shifted to sit up. That alerted the group of seven that she was awake. Aerith walked over to sit beside the teenage girl.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

Lana just looked at her. "All of my friends are gone, aren't they?" Aerith nodded sadly.

Lana couldn't help it. She started to cry. The motherly, older woman pulled her into a hug. The teenager cried for a good ten minutes before she pulled back and dried her face. She looked over the four new faces in the room

An old man in a blue robe with a blue hat stepped forward. "Good evening. I'm Merlin. These are Cloud," A tall moody blonde man. "Tifa," A pretty brunette woman who was glaring at Cloud. "And Cid," The man was sitting in front of the large computer and gave a short wave before going back to typing. "They tell me your world was destroyed by the darkness." He watched her with kind eyes.

"Y-yes. It was." Lana answered. There was something moving next to her. She turned to look. Jumping up, she screamed. It was one of those creatures that had attacked her friends and her. It's ears dropped like it was sad. It, then, lay down before rolling over to expose its stomach.

"Calm down. Calm down," Yuffie told her. "That heartless lead Leon to you. Without it, you would've bled to death. He's been with you, protecting you, since we found you." The heartless blinked its bright yellow eyes at Lana. She calmed down slowly.

"It saved me…" She said quietly watching the heartless. It smiled without teeth showing, as if trying to reassure the girl. She took a slow step towards the creature. It didn't move but waited still as stone. A small, slight hand shifted in the direction of the heartless.

'Velvet.' The teen realized as soon as her hand reached the heartless. 'It feels like velvet. So soft.' She reached out her other hand and picked it up. 'Why did it help me? All of the other ones tried to kill me.' The heartless nuzzled her cheek.

"What're you going to call him?" Yuffie asked Lana.

"Shade. That's his name." Lana sat back down, setting Shade in her lap. The heartless proceeded in curling up for a nap.

"Merlin, You should explain to her the entire situation." Cloud growled softly.

"By golly. You're right. I'll get started on that as soon as she's ready for it." Merlin looked at the girl.

"My ears are open when you're ready, sir." Lana responded. Even though her ears were open, her mind was busy being fogged over by the thought of her home being gone.

"Well, you see," Merlin started after clearing his throat. "All of the worlds are connected. They're not always accessible but forever connected. A few years ago, a little over three years now that I think about it, the darkness first started swallowing worlds. Then, a young boy started working his way around, reviving the worlds. His name is Sora. He wields a weapon called a key blade.

"After he finished reviving all of the worlds, Sora disappeared. Life went on quietly for around a year before the darkness swallowed the worlds again. The Key blade Master woke from a yearlong sleep to continue his mission. He was reviving the worlds while he looked for his friends who were taken by the darkness the first time." Merlin stopped to take a sip of his tea.

"You see, one of his friends, Karri, had already been returned to Destiny Island. Sora's other friend helped him close the door to the darkness from the inside. That sealed Sora's friend in the darkness." Aerith tossed in quickly.

"Yes. Yes. That's right," Merlin agreed. "The second time Sora ran the darkness off, he had to fight off Organization Thirteen as well. I'm sorry but I don't know much about them. That's a subject you would have to ask King Mickey about later. Sora managed to return home to live out the rest of his life in peace," Merlin paused with a sad look. "Or so we hoped. Alas though, the darkness is upon us again. That is the run down. Any questions?"

Lana looked up. "How long ago did he go home?" She whispered.

There was silence at first. Then, Cloud responded almost as softly as Lana had asked.

"A year ago."

Well, there was chapter two. I hope you enjoyed it. I know I probably miss-spelled Karri's name. I'll try to fix that in later chapters. I'm doing this from memory and my memory sucks. Read and Review. Later.


	4. Chapter 3

Hey. Back again? That's good. Here's Chapter three.

Chapter Three

It had been close to a month and a half since Lana had taken up residency in the spare room of HQ in Radiant Gardens. A month since she had gotten a job. Less then an hour since she had finally passed out. That was when she sat up.

Lana had an internal clock that woke her up precisely at seven o'clock in the morning. She stood up and ran one hand over Shade's head, waking the heartless up. The girl stood before picking up her clothes for the shower. The heartless followed her.

The front door opened. Three teens walked in. The seven people in the room stopped to look at them. Then, a few flocked to the new comers. Words got jumbled together. Everyone was excited.

"Sora, you're back!" Yuffie yelled, hugging the boy.

"Yeah. King Mickey contacted us. We were on our way to the Disney castle but we got blown off course," Sora laughed. "By the way, these are my friends Karri and Riku."

"It's nice to meet you finally." Aerith replied from the kitchen. Sora laughed before starting on introducing the people in the room to Riku and Karri.

He had just finished when Tifa thought of something. "Oh, Sora. We have another person staying here. I think she's in the shower but she'll be down soon." Right as the woman said this, a small shadow came bouncing down the stairs and up to Tifa.

"A heartless!" Sora, Karri, and Riku summoned their key blades before dropping into fighting stances. The heartless gave them a blank stare. Then, it looked back at Tifa.

"She needs conditioner, again? God, we go through a bottle every two days." Tifa roared.

"Don't forget Leon and Cloud use it too for their love-ly locks." Yuffie added causing the mentioned men to cuss at her. Tifa sighed, handing a bottle of conditioner to the heartless.

"Tell her to hurry up. We have guests." With that, she sent the creature back up the stairs.

"Wasn't that a heartless?" Karri asked in confusion.

"Yeah, but he's the new girl's…Ah. Pet, I guess." Leon answered hovering over a cup of coffee.

The three key blade wielders stared in surprise. Soon, however, Sora and Karri were enveloped into a conversation with Tifa and Yuffie, while Riku leaned against a wall. Five minutes after the water turned off, footsteps started down the stairs, catching the new three's attention.

The first thing they saw were a pair of black combat boots that stopped at a set of knees. Followed quickly by a pair of black denim shorts. A pale inch of skin showed between her shirt and her shorts. A small tribal dragon was tattooed on her left hip. Her shirt was a plain black tank top. A braid of black hair swung to the side, reaching her waist. It was streaked purple. A thin pale neck with a black ribbon choker led to strong pale arms with wrist/forearm guards. Then, her face was visible. As was the heartless riding on her shoulder.

The girl's face was framed by black/purple bangs. Her eyes, which were the same color as Riku's, seemed to shift between being darker and lighter. A small delicate nose sat over an average set of lips, which were a slight pink color. She was pretty.

The girl was looking over the new comers when Leon looked up. "Hey. Thanks to you being up all night, I barely got any sleep." He snapped at her. She looked at him.

"It ain't my fault that Uncle Cloud cut you off," This statement caused the blonde to blush behind his newspaper as the teenager turned towards the kitchen. "Aerith, I'm late for work, so I'm heading out. Later." The girl slid gracefully around the trio before she was out the door and gone.

"G'mornin', sir. Ma'am. Would you like to try a sea salt ice cream?" Lana asked dully. Riku was watching the girl from the shadows across the street.

"Lana, do the song." Scrooge called. The girl rolled her eyes before clearing her voice.

"Excuse me! G'mornin' ladies and gentlemen," She sang with a beautiful voice and smile. "I have a small little question for you! Are you looking for a delicious treat? If you are, well I have something for you." Lana twirled around in a small circle. "Sea salt. Yes, I said, sea salt. Sea salt ice cream! Buy it cheap, enjoy your treat. I hope you'll come back for some more to eat." That was it.

The small crowd, which had gathered, applauded her performance. Many of them stepped up to buy the treat. Riku drifted over from the shadow. Lana bid the customers goodbye as they walked away.

"That was pretty impressive." The silver haired boy commented.

"You were at the house this morning." The simple reply back.

"What's your name?" The first question.

A smirk. "Buy an ice cream and I might tell you," Not the expected response. Riku dug out some munny. The slightly shorter girl handed him his ice cream. "The name's Lana Draf." That was what he wanted.

"I'm Riku. How old are you?" He was on a mission for information.

"Seventeen and a half. You?" The girl, it seemed, was on the same mission.

Riku smirked. The girl was younger than him. That was not what he'd expected. "Eighteen. If you don't mind me asking, how did you end up with Leon's group?" As soon as he asked the question, he regretted it.

Lana's entire appearance changed. Her eyes snapped to being wary and dark. The posture of her body shifted into a defensive position. The boy was in awe over the way her defenses came up so quickly. He never would have expected it. He didn't expect a lot about this girl.

"Forget I asked," Riku covered. There were a few moments of silence. "Do you mind if I stick around for a while?" The girl shifted.

"I can't think of a reason why I would mind." Lana answered turning to a customer.

Riku sat on a low wall next to the ice cream stand to watch the girl. She preformed the ice cream song three more times throughout the day. When no one was around and the girl seemed to have forgotten the boy was there, she would sing softly to herself. She had a crisp, beautiful voice that rose and dipped elegantly. He couldn't pull his eyes from the girl.

Aerith came walking slowly up the hill, carrying a basket. She smiled upon seeing the two teens together. It still took the woman a few minutes to reach the two, who were bickering about something. She couldn't help but give a small giggle. Alerting the two of her presence.

"Hey, Aerith. What's up?" Lana grinned at the woman. The girl seemed to be enjoying herself.

"I'm on lunch rounds. I figured I'd bring you two something to eat." Aerith tried not to laugh. She handed the two-bagged lunches.

"Thank you." Riku whispered.

"You're very welcome, dear." The woman didn't notice the slight blush that appeared on the silver haired boy's face.

Lana gave Aerith a hug. "You are one of the best people I know. I totally forgot to eat breakfast. You're so wonderful." The teen proclaimed.

"Okay. Okay," Aerith laughed, pushing the girl off. "I've got to go drop off some food for the boys. They're working in Ansem's lab again. So much bother over nothing really." The woman shrugged and went on her way.

Lana sat down before proceeding in pulling out her lunch. "Aerith always makes the best bagged lunches. They're always so good. YUM!" With food on her mind, the girl was rambling. She knew it.

Riku smirked. "So I've been told." He muttered watching the girl start eating.

They had started a small friendship in the past few hours. There was something about the other that just clicked. It made hanging out fairly fun. Hopefully, nothing bad will happen.

Look at that. Chapter three is already done. Read and Review if you want chapter four. I love feedback. Later.


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